Mr Justice Potts decided Jeffrey Archer's crime was worth a four-year sentence, but it has emerged the Marylebone Cricket Club has decided to tag an extra three years on the end.

The disgraced peer is said to be "deeply disappointed" after being suspended from the world's oldest and most prestigious cricketing body for seven years because of his conviction for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Archer, currently residing within the confines of HMP Hollesley Bay in Suffolk, was notified by post of the decision after a meeting of the full committee agreed the sentence -apparently by a majority of one - last Wednesday.

The committee, made up of such notables as John Major, the former Conservative prime minister, and the composer Sir Tim Rice, had earlier decided not to expel him - it would have been the first such action in the club's 215-year history.

Archer had declined to resign from the MCC this month after it wrote to him following his unsuccessful appeal against his conviction. He was asked to justify his membership and was offered a dignified exit. Archer wrote to plead with the MCC and its president, Sir Tim Rice, not to expel him.

The suspension means Archer will be banned from wearing the club's distinctive "egg and bacon" tie or taking up a seat in the Long Room in the Lord's pavilion.